Monday, December 5, 2016

I've just gotten confirmation that Sandy Rodgers, teacher, writer and stitcher extraordinary, has died. She was a delightful person, a wonderful teacher for both ANG and EGA and a superb stitcher who did the most beautiful silk and metal embroidery on needlepoint canvas. Plus Sandy wrote articles for all the needlepoint magazines for years and years. I always enjoyed her profiles of new products immensely. http://sandyrodgers.com

Once again Mary Corbet has mentioned things of great interest to embroiderers--that there are great videos on The Crewel Work Company's revamped website and EGA has published a booklet with embroidery tips that is available for online viewing or download. Since needlepointers often use crewel stitches, you'll want to check this out.The Crewel Work Company is a venture by Phillippa Turnbull and you can see her video collection here. I may be prejudiced (I learned crewel embroidery before I learned needlepoint) but I think the skills used in crewel are very useful for needlepointers who love to embellish their work. If you have trouble with French knots, for example, Phillippa demonstrates how to make them. If you ever wanted to use fly stitch for bird feathers, watch her video first.https://www.crewelwork.com/pages/videos

The EGA brochure is called "A Little Book of Embroidery Basics." It really does cover the basics, from keeping your hands clean to learning how to start/end a thread. If you want a refresher course, or just because you are learning, this is a great place to orient yourself before your next stitching project.http://www.egausa.org/images/Resources/LittleBook_8x5_2016.pdf